Doctor Who coming tae Glasgae

[Proudhuff]

Jings! Crivens and help ma boab!

Revealed in todays Herald the current Dr Who Exhibition in London is to travel to the Kelvingrove next year with the addition of this Series' baddies!

Link: http://www.theherald.co.uk/search/display.var.2170524.0.doctor_who_to_be_star_attraction_at_kelvingrove.php" target="_blank">Tennet's in the Park

[flip-r mk2]

whooo hooooooo



flip

[DavidXBrunt]

Dear Green Death City?

[Trout]

I'm there!

I've been meaning to visit the refurbished Kelvingrove Museum anyway. I've always loved the place, as I used to live round the corner from it and spent many a happy hour wandering around.

- Trout

[I, Cosh]

Could be fun. The Kylie Exhibition was pointless: the thing that makes Kylie's pants interesting is Kylie being in them.

(I'll set them up...)

[House of Usher]

Refurbished generally means 'evil'. I saw the new Kelvingrove on The Culture Show or something last year. There's a lot of paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling of the new visitors' cafe or something, and they've probably made it all interactive. Arse.

They've just done this to museums in Wales. St. Fagans Museum of Welsh Life and the art gallery of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff have been given the treatment.

What they've done is:

Reduce the number of exhibits on show. We don't need 30 slightly different examples of something to show its many variations and development over 150 years, so instead we'll have just one, on its own, in a great big glass case, and stick all the others in the basement or sell them off. Then we'll paint all the woodwork of the display cases bright orange, so that the case competes with the exhibit for the visitor's attention. Then we'll prioritize walking about space over display space. Then install a lot of computer touch screens so we can use AV instead of actually exhibiting things. Funny that, because people can read books in the library or watch documentaries about the '20s on TV; but never mind, we'll get museums to duplicate that effort instead of bothering with daft crap like curating collections. Then we'll have a lot of interactive nonsense with buttons to press, and 'activities' that are as much like weaving your own cloth as playing with art materials from the Early Learning Centre is. Not forgetting to have lots of signage that instead of offering factual content - what used to be called interpretation - poses inane questions like "what do you think this tool was used for?" Well, I don't fucking know. Is the answer lying about here anywhere? Oh no, it's not, is it. Well, I'll just have to guess then.

In a word, it's dumbing down. I really hope the Kelvingrove hasn't succumbed to this idiocy, but I'm afraid my local museums have, and the Tate did. As soon as Tate Modern opened, all the exhibits in Tate Britain got shuffled about and rearranged thematically instead of historically or by School. "Look children - this room is where they keep all the paintings of cows/chairs/whatever". Utterly moronic. They might as well put all the blue painting in one room, all the red ones in another, etc.

[Trout]

Well, I'll reserve my judgement until I've seen the place, but I know the point of the work was to increase the exhibition space. They introduced an entire extra floor.

The link below gives a pretty positive-sounding report of the reopening.

I was particularly happy to hear the museum/gallery was to get back Dali's Christ Of St John Of The Cross, which is a breath-taking piece of work.

- Trout

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5165924.stm" target="_blank">clickety

[House of Usher]

The link below gives a pretty positive-sounding report of the reopening.

Heh. That's just journalism. You know how those bastards like to just make stuff up!

- The aerial photo of the main hall looks great. I must have a look myself next year if I don't get up to Scotland this year.

Agree about the Dali Christ. I'm profoundly moved by the perspective, the foreshortening of the figure and the sheer size of the canvas. Big painting are great!

[Proudhuff]

Everything Usher said, I thought it was just me who considered this growing sea of interactive tat to be evil!

How many times do you find these interactive things buggered? speak to the staff and you find out there is no budget to fix em,yes the display looked great for the first six months then after that this useless blank screen stares out over dog-eared displays that the little angels glance at breifly as the graze their way past on the way to buying some more plastic tat at the shopping experience that awaits then at the end of their carefully marked out route.ggggrrrr!

The Chambers St Museum in Edinburgh (refused to call it The Royal as they have branded it), is getting the same treatment, but there they are cramming in lots of unrelated stuff into the big open wonderful space that was the main hall (much as they have done in the Kelvingrove) in the hope of keeping the attention of ADD dumbed down Radio Scotland sports prsenters and their bubbling four year olds.

These wonderful public spaces now become shopping 'experiences' and yet another cafe with over friendly antipideans and no fried food!

The people who inflict these monster productions on wonderful public spaces seem to have a hatred of learning, quiet, reading and any space they consider 'Unutilised', I have a dread of them discovering the great outdoors, if they do every hill and valley will have an interactive speak and tell Vistors Center (they use that, not Centre)including cafe and ubiquitous shop and storyteller in it to tell you all about the place.

In about ten years the wheel will turn and the next generation will come along and rip out all their gubbings put in some new shite or nothing at all but of course will charge for the privilege

Nurse! my medication if you will, ogh and a damp chammy I'm off for a lie down

Ranthuff

Rant over

[Peter Wolf]

 I will have a look at Brighton Museum later today as that reopened a while ago to see if it has had the same treatment.